See also the category "Talumpati." And whether you found what you were looking for or not, please leave a comment below so I can help you better.

Before September 11 was hijacked and became 9/11, the day was better known to Filipinos as the birthday of Ferdinand Marcos, former President of the Philippines.

There is a lot that has already been written about Marcos—and there's probably a lot more that will never be written—but this post will focus only on his inaugural address on 30 December 1965.

He talked about "a young patriot... [who] fell from a tyrant’s bullet and out of the martyr’s blood that flowed copiously there sprang a new nation." He was, of course, referring to Jose Rizal and the birth of the first Philippine republic, but he may as well have been predicting the death of Ninoy Aquino and the end of his dictatorship, too.

Sixty-nine years ago today, a young patriot and prophet of our race fell upon his beloved soil. He fell from a tyrant’s bullet and out of the martyr’s blood that flowed copiously there sprang a new nation.

That nation became the first modern republic in Asia and Africa. It is our nation. We are proud to point to our country as one stable in an area of stability; where ballots, not bullets, decide the fate and parties.

Thus Kawit and Malolos are celebrated in our history as acts of national greatness. Why national greatness? Because, armed with nothing but raw courage and passionate intelligence and patriotism, our predecessors built the noble edifice of the First Asian Republic.

Today the challenge is less dramatic but no less urgent. We must repeat the feat of our forebears in a more commonplace sphere, away from the bloody turmoil of heroic adventure – by hastening our social and economic transformation. For today, the Filipino, it seems, has lost his soul, his dignity and his courage.

This nation can be great again. This I have said over and over. This is my article of faith, and Divine Providence has willed that you and I can now translate this faith into deeds. I have repeatedly told you: each generation writes its own history. Our forbears have written theirs. With fortitude and excellence we must write ours.

This is your dream and mine. By your choice you have committed yourselves to it. Come then, let us march together towards the dream of greatness.